| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Sven, The Far Side | |||||
| Born | 2 January 1967 Gladstone, Queensland, Australia |
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| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Lock, Second-row, Prop | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1987–1999 | North Sydney | 233 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 132 |
| 2000 | Parramatta | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 250 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 136 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1991–1998 | Queensland | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995–1997 | Australia | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| As of 5 October 2008 | ||||||
| Source: RLP | ||||||
Gary Larson (born 2 January 1967 in Gladstone, Queensland[1]) is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. He represented Australia internationally and Queensland in State of Origin and played his club football with the North Sydney Bears and finished his career with a brief stint at the Parramatta Eels. Larson took the record for most consecutive State of Origin appearances with 24.
Nicknamed "Sven Svennson" due to his Nordic appearance, he made his name playing for the North Sydney Bears during a distinguished club career. As a player he was renowned for his reliability as a "workhorse" due to his staggering workload in matches, taking the record of most consecutive State of Origin appearances of any player (24). He was named man-of-the-match in the second game of the 1995 series and the third game of the 1997 series. Roy and HG, when commentating State of Origin matches, would refer to Larson as being "on the far side" of the playing arena - a joke aimed at his name being shared with famous cartoonist Gary Larson ("and the ball is passed to Gary Larson... on the far side...").
After the North Sydney club exited the NRL, Larson played out the final years of his career for the Parramatta Eels. He currently lives at Tannum Sands, Queensland with his wife Kate who is a former supermodel, and his two children Jack, who does outrigging and swimming and Poppy whos a well known netball player, where he coaches and trains the local team, the Seagulls. He is also the brother in law of fellow former Norths player Greg Florimo.
In August 2006, Larson was named at prop in the North Sydney Bears' Team of the Century.
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